The subject invention relates to configuration of computer systems in general and to apparatus for convenient, customized program, operating system and BIOS loading in particular.
It is normal to custom configure the system unit of a computer system for a user at a dealer, a corporate configuration center, or at the user site. When done at the dealer or at a configuration center the resources and skills needed are available but the computer must be removed from the packaging, set up, configured with BIOS, operating system and a program image and then repackaged to be sent to the end user. Alternatively, the configuration may be done at the manufacturer, prior to packaging, but it is difficult to provide the degree of customization usually desired without major inventory problems and the customization tend to get "stale" (out of date) with time and may need to be redone. There may even be royalty expense waste with systems that go stale before they are deployed.
At the user site, roll out of generic systems is less efficient of resources but avoids the repackaging problem. For complex program images and system resource add-ons, it may be necessary to send out a skilled configuration expert thus consuming valuable skills with travel time to the user site and, like a doctor making house calls, leaving the expert without the full complement of diagnostic equipment and programs typically available at a configuration center.